The Chelsea Standard
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
City asks road board to rethink speed limit
By Edward Freundl, Heritage Newspapers
PUBLISHED: April 26, 2007
The disagreement over changing the speed limit on Old US-12 hasn't run out of gas quite yet.
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Interim City Manager John Hansen told the City Council on April 10 that he and Councilmember Joe Merkel attended a Washtenaw County Road Commission meeting to voice the city's displeasure with the road board's handling of the change on a portion of Old 12 between M-52 and Wilkinson Street.
"We're not finished with this issue, and (we) requested a 'do-over'" Hansen said. "They recognized it hadn't happened in the smoothest process."
The speed limit was raised from 35 to 45 miles per hour last month, without prior notice to the city or to inhabitants of the busy residential and commercial zone.
The sudden and unexpected change generated angry protests from the council and citizens.
Hansen said it was a matter of following the proper procedure, and he and Merkel simply asked the road commission to act in a more professional manner.
"We will ask them to put the old speed limit signs up, and follow the protocol to inform the council of impending changes," Hansen said.
County Commissioner Mark Ouimet, R-District 1, is the county commission's liaison to the road board, and told the council their request was taken seriously.
"One item we discussed after your presentation was returning that stretch to the city," Ouimet said.
That brought a swift retort from Mayor Ann Feeney.
"Only after they fix it," Feeney said. "Actually, that would not be our preference because all the roads around it are county roads, and it would be more trouble than it's worth to determine jurisdiction."
In other business, the council denied a request from Zou Zou's Restaurant to place outdoor seating along the side of the building facing Main Street.
The council approved a similar measure at its previous meeting for seating along West Middle Street, but concerns about pedestrian movement around tables and safety along the narrow sidewalk adjacent to a busy roadway led the council to a rare "no" vote.
"It creates a tremendous amount of potential congestion, as lovely as the idea is," said Councilmember Cheri Albertson.
Hansen also recommended against the proposal.
"I don't feel it would be a safe situation," he said.
"Psychologically, one side is a city street, and the other is awfully close to a state highway."
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